


Sharing Da

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [34]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Abby is jealous, Age Play, Ducky has the patience of a saint, Gen, Non-Sexual Age Play, Tea, Temper Tantrums, Toys, time outs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8151395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: It's Jimmy's second age-playing session with Ducky and Abby, and some deeper problems are revealed...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for tchilton28, an anonymous commenter who asked for some more attention on Jimmy. Here is why we can't have nice things: I break them. >=) Eh, the angst is not _horribly_ rampant in this fic, I don't think, but it's there. As it usually is nowadays. Enjoy!

It was the Friday afternoon after everyone on the team found out about Jimmy, and Palmer and Ducky were working in autopsy on their most recent body. Ducky was working on removing a bullet from the poor admiral's chest cavity when he looked up to see Palmer staring through the body, a troubled expression on his face. "Mister Palmer?" he prompted.

Palmer stiffened like he had been shocked and his eyes landed on Ducky. "Sorry Doctor. I just got caught up in my own head, I think."

Ducky nodded and maneuvered the tweezers 2 degrees counterclockwise. "Yes, I am aware. You, however, I suspect are not."

"It's been a long week, Doctor. I won't let it happen again," Palmer said, picking up one of the empty sample containers and holding it out, so Ducky could place the bullet in it.

"Run this up to Abby, dear boy. Oh, and while you're up there, ask her if she would object to visiting my house tonight. You both are invited to dinner."

Palmer looked at him with a shocked smile on his face, before nodding. "Right away, Doctor," he said, rushing out of the room.

Ducky watched the man go and sighed. He knew that both Abigail and Palmer needed the break he was offering, and he was looking forward to relaxing, himself, but Jimmy's behavior last time they played made him concerned. The boy's childhood was clearly not a happy one, and Ducky feared what else might be lying in store for him by way of nasty surprises.

This was a discussion he would have to put on hold, however, at least until he finished this autopsy. Palmer came back into the room, a slight spring in his step. "She said she would be happy to, Doctor Mallard," Palmer informed. "And that she hoped there would be ice cream involved for dessert."

"She always does," Ducky chuckled. "I've discussed with her how in order to have sugar-filled desserts more often, she would have to cut back on her caffeine intake during the day..."

"...Which is never going to happen," Palmer finished. "So it stays rare?"

"That it does," Ducky answered. "Now, then. Back to the autopsy."

"Right away, Doctor Mallard."

* * *

The autopsies were finished, the paperwork filed. It was time to go home, and Ducky had gotten past the initial trepidation of Jimmy's possible negative reactions to the anticipation of being able to relax with his daughter (and his son!) tonight. Ducky had taken off his scrubs and was waiting for Palmer to exit the locker room before he left. Palmer had said that he wanted to drive himself, and Ducky had obliged, like he did for Abby. He understood why Gibbs might want to drive his kids to and from the office, but so long as Abby and Palmer were responsible on the road, Ducky saw no reason to stop them from that facet of independence. Palmer walked out of the locker room sheepishly. "Sorry for making you wait, Doctor Mallard. I couldn't find my keys."

Ducky shook his head. "It was no trouble, Mister Palmer. You eventually found them?"

Palmer nodded. "Fell to the floor of the locker. They're fine."

The two men left autopsy after Ducky turned out the lights, and entered the elevator, where they found an excited Abby waiting for them. " _There_  you 2 are! I was starting to worry!" she exclaimed, giving them both a hug as they entered the elevator.

"That's my fault. I lost my keys for a couple minutes, sorry," Palmer explained.

Abby shrugged and punched the button for the ground floor. "As long as you're okay, I'm happy."

The rest of the elevator ride lapsed into silence, and when the three exited, Abby started chatting about nothing, apparently tired of listening to the absence of conversation.

They split up in the parking lot, with the promise of going straight to Ducky's. Ducky climbed into his car and packed out of his parking space, going over what he had prepared for Jimmy. He had a new coloring book which was more gender neutral, in case Jimmy didn't want to color princesses and Abby didn't want to color anything "boyish." Men's nappies, obviously, and some sweatpants and a T-shirt in Palmer's relative size, until he could be fitted for custom clothing. Beyond that, the boy seemed perfectly happy playing with whatever was near, so long as he knew he wouldn't be punished for it. He shifted into a faster gear, trying to keep within the speed limit but also wanting to be the first one back to his house, just in case his kids couldn't stay big until he got there.

In the end, he pulled up seconds before Palmer did, and a minute after Abby. He got out of his car, pulling out his house keys. "No use staying outside," he said to no one in particular as he unlocked the door. "Come in!"

Abby immediately bounded up to her room, while Jimmy waited to come out of hiding until the front door shut, and then he huddled closer to Ducky. "Come on, lad, I want to show you something," Ducky said softly, putting a hand on the small of Jimmy's back.

The two walked up the stairs to the room next to Abby's, which Ducky had let the boys use the last time they had slept over. The second twin bed was disassembled, and the first was pushed into the far corner, just out of reach of the sun streaming in from the window. The room was essentially bare, but Ducky had intended for it to be that way to show his new son. "This room is yours, now, lad," he explained. "You can decorate it how you wish, like Abigail did hers. And anything you wish to keep at this house, I will make sure stays safe in here."

Jimmy looked around with a wonder that Ducky had not seen on any child in years as he inspected the room. Ducky led him to the closet and pulled out the sweatpants and sweatshirt he had stored in there. "I hope I managed to get your correct size, lad. We can get you some better clothes soon, but these should do for tonight. Would you like me to change you, or can you do it yourself?"

Jimmy smiled when he saw the clothes, and held his hands out for them. "'M a big boy," he said.

Ducky nodded, but refrained from passing the clothes over just yet. "Jimmy, are you wearing a nappy already?"

Jimmy scowled. "'M a big boy. I don't need diapers!"

Ducky crossed his arms. This was Jimmy's first test of boundaries, and Ducky was not about to be cowed. "Jimmy, let's make one thing clear: in my house, you will follow my rules. And my rules say that children, big or small, who sometimes have problems with their toilet training, will not go around without nappies on, unless they go for 3 hours without an accident. And if they have an accident, they will stay in nappies for another 3 hours, and so forth, until they don't have that issue. You have not gone 3 hours in my house without an accident, and therefore you need to wear a nappy. If you don't need a change for 3 hours, then we can renegotiate."

Jimmy stared down at his toes intently. "But 'm a big boy," he mumbled. "And big boys don' wear diapers."

"Sometimes they do," Ducky replied simply. "Such is the case here. I made sure we had some less feminine-styled nappies for you this time, so you can lay down and do this the easy way, and I'll let you dress yourself, or we can do it the hard way, you will still be in a nappy when we're done, and I'll dress you as well."

Jimmy sighed and lay down on the floor. Ducky offered him a smile. "Good lad. This won't take but a minute..." Ducky quickly put a nappy on the boy and helped him sit up. "Now, then. Do you still want to dress yourself?"

"Mm-hm," Jimmy hummed, reaching for the clothes and pulling them on as soon as they were in his hands.

Ducky ruffled the boy's hair. "You're a clever lad, aren't you? Knowing how to do that all by yourself."

Jimmy flushed at the praise and ducked his head, bringing his keys up to his mouth. Ducky stood up with a quick _pop, pop_  from both his knees and Jimmy followed suit. "Come on, lad. Let's see what Miss Abigail is up to, eh?"

Jimmy followed every step Ducky made, just a hair into the realm of Ducky's personal space. But considering the boy was no doubt feeling uncertain about this new situation, Ducky left it alone. They walked down the steps together after finding that Abby had vacated her bedroom, and found her coloring on the floor in Ducky's office. She looked up as they walked in and smiled. "Hi, guys! I was just waiting for you to finish so we could play."

Ducky took a step to the side so that she and Jimmy could see each other, but Jimmy whimpered and moved his hand out toward Ducky, before dropping it like he had been burned. Abby stood up and took a step toward Jimmy. "You okay?"

Jimmy stared at the floor and didn't reply. Ducky frowned. This certainly wasn't normal behavior for any of the littles he had encountered so far. Jimmy was timid, surely, but this was downright fearful. Ducky wrached his brain for something that could ease the tension in the air. "My dear lad, perhaps you would like something to drink?" Ducky offered.

Hesitantly, as if expecting something else to be said in addition to the question, Jimmy nodded his head.

"Would you like to come with me to see what we have, or do you want me to decide for you?"

"Wanna pick m'self," Jimmy mumbled.

Ducky nodded, and lightly pressed his hand on Jimmy's back. "This way, then. Abigail, you can join us if you'd like?"

All 3 of them made their way to Ducky's kitchen, and Abby and Jimmy sat down at the counter in the center. Ducky went to the cabinets and picked out a plastic cup without a lid and a flower design for Abby, and a sippy-cup for Jimmy, with skulls and pirates on it. "Let's see what we have tonight to drink, hm? We have water...grape juice...milk...and fruit tea. Abigail?"

"I'll have tea, please," she said.

Ducky nodded. "Jimmy?"

Jimmy was tracing designs on the counter with his toy keys. "Juice?" he offered meekly.

"Good choice, lad. I like juice myself, especially if my throat gets scratchy," Ducky said. "Did you know, that the first regularly-produced juice was lemonade in the 16th century in Italy? Yes, the concept was brought over to the Italians from the Middle East..."

"Dad!" Abby exclaimed. "Why do you know so much about _juice_  of all things?!"

Ducky laughed. "That's an interesting story, actually..."

Abby groaned. " _Dad_!"

Ducky chuckled a little more and turned on the kettle, pulling out the box of fruit tea that Abby adored. Then he pulled out the grape juice and poured a decent amount into the sippy-cup, and, after screwing the lid on, gave it to Jimmy.

Jimmy took it between two fingers and pulled it close to his chest, not taking a sip of it yet. Ducky turned his body away to make it look like he wasn't watching, and in his peripheral vision saw Jimmy start to suck on the opening of the lid greedily. The kettle whistled and Ducky poured half of the water into Abby's cup after placing the leaves in an infuser and placing the infuser in the cup, steeping the tea. Once all of them had beverages, Ducky sat down at the counter between his two children and sighed. "It's been a long week, has it not?"

"Too long," Abby agreed, sipping her tea and sighing. "I wish you'd let me have caffeinated tea."

"If I let you have that, my dear," Ducky said fondly, "You'd be up all night."

Abby laughed and Ducky didn't miss the quick smile Jimmy allowed. Ducky considered what they could do after this. Abby never needed much encouragement to relax, but Ducky knew that a younger child like Jimmy would need structure. "Jimmy, after you finish your juice, is there anything that you wish to do?"

Jimmy shrugged. "I liked playing with the blocks las' time..."

"You can do that, lad, I can bring them out for you," Ducky reassured. "Maybe Abby would be willing to build something with you?"

Abby nodded. "Sure! I know how to build lots of different things!"

Jimmy smiled and sucked as much juice as he could out of the sippy-cup. "Cool. What sortsa things?"

"Like castles, and towers, and skyscrapers, and just...lots of different things!" Abby exclaimed excitedly. "It's fun to see how much different stuff you can do with just a couple blocks!"

Jimmy perked up at Abby's enthusiasm. Ducky felt the tension in the air ease. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard. "How about you two do that while I take care of some business in my office?"

The smile on Jimmy's face shrank a little. "Can't you play with us?"

"Not immediately, lad. But I'll be within yelling distance," Ducky said with slight chuckle when he said the last part.

Jimmy frowned and nodded, unconvinced. Ducky pondered the boy's response. Of course someone who grew up in the foster care system would have some issues with abandonment, but none quite this serious. "If it's all right with Abigail, I could bring the blocks into my office and the two of you could play in there?"

Abby grumbled but nodded. "It's a bit boring, but playing with someone else in your office is still more fun than playing on my own."

Jimmy looked...relieved, more so than Ducky expected he would. But considering the boy now had something he wanted to do, in a place he was comfortable...well. Ducky certainly wasn't going to say anything. He stood. "I'll go get those blocks, hm?"

"Could I come with you?" Jimmy asked timidly.

Ducky nodded and crooked a finger. Jimmy slid off his chair and followed Ducky closely, holding onto his juice at the same time. He brought the box to his office where Abby was apparently waiting, drinking the last of her tea. She smiled when she saw him carrying the box. "If I had known you were bringing out the full set I would have offered to help, Dad!"

"That's all right, sweetheart. I lift dead bodies for a living, one box of blocks won't give me a heart attack." Ducky placed the box on the floor and walked to his desk, pulling out a laptop from one of the drawers and opening it up. "You two play, I'll only be a tick."

It took a bit longer than the tick Ducky claimed it would be, but he finished most of his work faster than he normally would. He had Palmer to thank for doing a majority of the paperwork today. He was just about to log off the laptop when he heard a shriek from the floor in front of him. He closed the laptop quietly to watch the scene unfold. Abby and Jimmy were both holding one end of a wooden block, and each of them appeared to be fighting for the other half. "Let go! It's my turn to put a block on the top! We agreed!" Abby exclaimed.

"No! You're gonna put it on wrong!" Jimmy yelled.

Ducky pinched the bridge of his nose. "Children..." he warned.

Abby let go of the block, sending Jimmy sprawling backwards to the floor. He yelped as his head connected with the floor, and swore loudly. Abby gasped and covered her mouth, looking to Ducky. Ducky calmly stood up and walked over to Jimmy. "Jimmy, we do not use words like that in this household. Is that clear?"

Jimmy looked just as shocked at what he had said and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good. If I hear that word come out of your mouth again, I will personally wash your mouth with soap. Understood?" Another nod. Ducky smiled reassuringly. "Well, then, we won't have a problem. What is this you 2 were building?"

Abby and Jimmy started an in-depth explanation of their architectural marvel, and what they were planning on doing next. The previous moment forgotten, Ducky offered to help them finish their masterpiece, and they put the last of the blocks on together. When it was done, Jimmy smiled deviously, and took away the bottom block, the entire tower dissolving into a noisy pile of wood. He laughed, and Abby joined in.

They built another tower, more intricate than the first. Jimmy loosened up a little more, and Ducky was infinitely glad the boy was capable of relaxing with him and Abby. They built the tower up until it started to sway, and came down with a crash. But instead of laughing like before, Jimmy whined. "We were almost finished! It's supposed to not fall over 'til we're done!" he exclaimed.

"But this just means we can build it again, but better!" Abby pointed out.

"No! I wanted to finish it the way it _was_  first!" Jimmy whined.

"Jimmy, whining won't get you what you want," Ducky said. "We can rebuild the tower the way it was, but it will just fall over again."

The boy turned to Ducky, a pout firmly on his face. While Ducky felt bad for the boy, he needed to establish the rules. Jimmy's pout turned to a scowl as he looked away. Ducky could feel this approaching the territory of a full-blown tantrum. "How about we do something else, lad, you're clearly upset."

"No I'm not!" Jimmy yelled. "I wanna keep building."

It appeared Ducky had waited too long to move on to another activity. He held back a sigh and started putting the blocks away. "You're tired, lad, and if you can't behave while playing with the blocks, then they're going away."

"Noooo!" Jimmy whined. "I wanna keep building!"

Ducky fixed Jimmy with a stern glare. "James Palmer, if you don't stop this behavior right now, you are going to wind up in a time-out."

Jimmy just whined all the more. Ducky finished putting the blocks away and sighed. Dealing with a child this young was difficult; he had forgotten that from a prolonged time without Abby being younger than 5 recently. He stood and pulled Jimmy up as well, practically dragging him out of the room and up the nearest flight of stairs, to Jimmy's bedroom. He positioned Jimmy in the corner, facing the 2 walls where they met, and said calmly, but firmly, "You are going to stay here for 5 minutes, young man, once you have calmed down. If I see you moving out of the corner, or kicking up a fuss, your time will start over."

As Ducky released the boy, Jimmy whirled around and dove down, clutching Ducky's leg. Ducky huffed. If Jimmy was just trying to get out of this...

"I'm-so-sorry-Da-please-please-please-don'-leave-me-here-I-promise-I'll-be-good!" the boy pleaded in a rush.

Ducky stopped that train of thought immediately and felt anger start to run through him. Not at Jimmy, but at the people who had given him such a strong fear of abandonment. And he had a suspicion that it was the same people who would repeatedly tell him not to play pretend, or act like a child in any way. Ducky reached down and gently released his leg from Jimmy's koala-like grip. "Jimmy, I won't leave you, you have to believe me."

The boy sniffled and tried to regain his grip on the man's leg.

"What can I do to make you believe?" Ducky mused out loud. "Ah! Would it make you feel better if you were facing the room? I'll be waiting for you on your bed and marking your time on my phone. You would have to stay in the corner, but you could see if I were going to leave you here."

Jimmy nodded and sniffled again. Ducky stepped back in clear view of Jimmy and walked over to the boy's bed, where he sat down and brought out his phone. "I know there's a timer here, Timothy showed me one yesterday...here we are."

Ducky started the timer and observed Jimmy out of the corner of his eye, while he was pretending to check his text messages. The boy was tracing circles on the floor and looking like his guilt was eating him alive. He kept on glancing at Ducky and the man thought it wasn't too much of a leap to assume the boy wanted nothing more than to run over and never let the man go. Whatever was running through that boy's mind was nothing pleasant. Ducky checked the timer. "Already 1 minute gone, lad, you're being such a good boy."

Jimmy looked up at him uncertainly, then down at the floor again. Ducky sighed. He supposed that in Jimmy's situation, he wouldn't believe himself either.

Over halfway through the time-out Jimmy was starting to yawn frequently, and Ducky suspected that the little one needed a nap more than anything right now. He frequently checked the timer to see when he could give Jimmy a well-needed rest, but every time he checked it felt like the clock was moving slower. After an eternity, the timer read 5 minutes. "You can come out now, Jimmy," Ducky said softly.

Jimmy rushed over to Ducky and climbed into his lap. "I'm-sorry-I'm-sorry-I'm-sorry," he mumbled.

Ducky rubbed circles on the boy's back and shushed him. "It's all right, lad. It's all right. I didn't want to do this to you, but you need to understand that in this house, tantrums won't bring you anywhere but here."

Jimmy nodded.

"I suspect that you are rather tired?" Ducky asked.

"Mm-hm."

"How about you take a nap before dinner? If you don't wake up before I'll inform you when it's ready."

Jimmy nodded. "Can I sleep in your room?" he asked.

Ducky frowned. "I suppose so, why?"

"Smells like Da," Jimmy yawned.

Ducky smiled. "In that case, I don't see why not."

"Carry me?" Jimmy asked hopefully.

"Well, I can try..." Ducky said, wrapping his arms more firmly around Jimmy and standing up. He staggered a bit backward at first, but compensated for the weight without too much trouble. "Let's get you to bed, lad."

It was apparent that Jimmy was asleep almost as soon as Ducky managed to get into his room. He placed Jimmy on the bed and sighed, taking off the boy's glasses and putting them on the night stand.

"So that's where you went!" Abby said softly from the doorway. "I was wondering what was taking so long."

Ducky stretched his back. "Will you help me with dinner, Abigail? I want to talk to you about establishing some new rules now that we have a baby in the house."

Abby nodded. "Sure thing, Dad. I've been looking forward to having some time with you alone."

* * *

Ducky heard the footsteps padding into the kitchen just as he finished dishing out bowls of the stew he and Abby had made. "I was just about to wake you, lad, rest assured," the man said without turning around.

"Smells good," Jimmy said from behind him.

"Well I certainly hope so," Ducky chuckled. "Your sister helped make it. She was eager to have some time alone with me. It appears that sibling rivalry might have run rampant in this house, if I had not come up with a solution. But that's a discussion for when Abigail is present as well. She left for the bathroom some time ago, so she should be out at any moment."

"Okay."

Ducky turned around. "Something on your mind, lad?"

Jimmy shook his head. "I'm jus'...glad. That you didn' leave while I was sleepin'."

Ducky stepped forward and grasped one of Jimmy's hands in his own. "I would never even dream of abandoning you. I hope you understand that."

Jimmy's brow furrowed and he frowned, the mysteries of the universe making themselves known to him as he thought. "You're not like most people, Da. Thanks."

Ducky beamed at Jimmy. "You are most certainly welcome. Ah, Abigail! Dinner is served," he said as Abby walked into the kitchen.

Abby shot a sideways look at Jimmy as she picked up a bowl of stew and a tall glass of water and carried them to the dining room. Ducky let go of Jimmy's hand and picked up the other two bowls. "If you could be careful and carry both of our glasses of water to the dining room, lad, I would appreciate it."

"Mm-hm," Jimmy said, picking up Ducky's glass and his sippy-cup and following Ducky to the dining room.

Once everyone was situated and Abby had said grace, as she often did whether out loud or in her head, Ducky leaned forward in his chair. "Abigail, Jimmy, if you both would give me your attention?"

Jimmy and Abby looked over. Ducky took a deep breath and began. "I am aware that both of you have needs when you come over. I am also aware that sometimes these will needs overlap, and sometimes the 2 of you will have needs that are radically different from one another. However, I am only 1 person and can only help with so many problems at once. This means that the 2 of you will have to share me. Abigail, I have already spoken about this with you while Jimmy was asleep. Would you care to share what we have agreed upon?"

Abby sighed and slouched in her seat, but relented. "I agreed that while you're here, Jimmy, you get to be Dad's top priority most of the time, since you're younger. But I get 1-on-1 time with him when we're cooking or when you take a nap to compensate for when he has to have all focus on you."

Ducky nodded. "And Jimmy, just because you are my top priority, doesn't mean you are more important than Abby, or that I cannot spend time playing with her while you are content to play on your own, without me or another responsible adult. You need to agree to share me with Abby. I know it will be hard, but I have confidence that you can do it. Do you understand and think this is reasonable?"

Jimmy nodded.

"Well, then, that settles that," Ducky said, pleased his arrangement would work for now. "If we come across any problems we can adjust accordingly. But for now, let's simply enjoy our dinner, hm?"

Abby and Jimmy nodded and started eating. They started talking about whatever came into their heads, Abby asking Jimmy a lot of questions to get to know him better. There weren't any fights, or even disagreements for that matter, at the table that night. All was right in the Mallard household...for the night, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, we've breached the 50,000 word limit! Whoop whoop!  
> Also, the tumblr is out there if you want to see me post moodboards and playlists and whatever extra content I make for the series! It's at gibbsfamily.tumblr.com.


End file.
